Kyagulanyi’s wife, Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi claims to have been subjected to grave injuries leading to her hospitalization at St. Francis’ Hospital Nsambya.
The Director of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Dr. Livingstone Ssewanyana, has condemned the alleged torture of Robert Kyagulanyi’s wife and other people at his home by security operatives, calling for arrests and prosecution of perpetrators. The incident, which left Kyagulanyi’s wife Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi hospitalized, has sparked outrage.
Ssewanyana suggested that today, just after the country has gone over elections, such acts are uncalled for and that instead, there should be healing and respect and, as much as possible, restraint of the security personnel from acts that are prejudicial to safety, harmony and peaceful co-existence.
Armed forces are said to have stormed the home of NUP Presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu in the night of Friday, January 23, 2026, forcefully entered and tortured his wife alongside other family members, beat them up, destroyed house property and stole especially electronic gadgets.
Kyagulanyi’s wife, Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi claims to have been subjected to grave injuries leading to her hospitalization at St. Francis’ Hospital Nsambya.
Ssewanyana lamented that although President Museveni is known to have several times condemned acts of abuse and torture, he seems not to have walked the talk by not coming out clearly to not only condemn but also cause arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the attack on Kyagulanyi’s home.
“There is a law of prohibition and prevention of torture, passed in order to punish people engaged in such acts especially when they hold positions of power; nobody is above the law and it is important that the President exercises his powers, otherwise the state may be seen as being part of what happened at Kyagulanyi’s home”, Ssewanyana noted.
The human rights advocate also observed that there is an urgent need to curtail such forms of impunity because the country has a constitution which must be upheld.
“When people with the responsibility to protect citizens engage into such acts and go unpunished, that is a precursor to the continued growth of this culture of impunity, and it must be stemmed at all costs”, Ssewanyana pointed out.
He was sad to note that after the elections, Ugandans are witnessing politics of hatred and revenge, which he noted must be avoided in order to have a law-abiding country, adding that in a multi-party dispensation, the opposition must be allowed to operate freely and not subjected to unnecessary mistreatment.
